It is known to track valuable items in commerce using cellular connections. For example, cargo ships and trucks are commonly outfitted with cellular devices that provide ongoing location updates. Such an approach is relatively expensive because a data plan is required for the cellular communications. In addition, such an approach consumes a relatively large amount of power. To track items of less value, these expenses are prohibitive.
Accordingly, there is a need to provide low cost and low power techniques for tracking items in commerce.